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Adulteration ot Milk axd Butter. 



Adulteration of Milk and Butter. 



The Report of the Local Government Board for the year 

 1898-9 contains particulars of tie results of the analyses of 

 samples of food and drugs taken by the local authorities 

 in 1898 under the powers conferred on them by the Sale of 

 Food and Drugs Act, 1875. The total number of samples 

 examined amounted to 49,555, of which 4,319 were found 

 adulterated, showing a proportion of 87 per cent., which is 

 the lowest percentage on record, and less than one-half of the 

 rate for the years 1877 and 1878. The 49,555 samples 

 analysed included 49,032 obtained by the officers of local 

 authorities, of which 4,076, or 8*3 per cent., were condemned ; 

 the remaining 523 were submitted to the analysts by private 

 purchasers and by agents of the Butter Association and the 

 Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society, and of these as many 

 as 243, or 46^ per cent., were reported against. 



Of the total number above mentioned about two-fifths, or 

 20,315 cases, were samples of milk, of which 2,011, or 9-9 per 

 cent., were condemned, and this is stated to be the first 

 occasion on which the percentage of milk adulteration for 

 the whole of England and Wales has fallen below 10 per cent. 

 The corresponding rate for London was i2'Q per cent., com- 

 pared with 14-6 per cent, in 1897 and 177 per cent in 1896. 



In twenty-one of the great towns included in the Registrar 

 General's weekly returns, the proportion was less than in 

 London, and the rate was below 3 per cent, in six of these 

 towns, viz., Oldham, Huddersfield, Bradford, Cardiff, Salford, 

 and Manchester. The total number of samples of milk taken 

 in this group of towns was 2,154, of which 46, or 2*1 per cent., 

 were declared to be adulterated. Another group of six other 

 towns is mentioned in contradistinction, viz., Liverpool, 

 Birmingham, West Ham, Sunderland, Portsmouth, and 

 Nottingham, where 1,593 samples were analysed, and 323, or 

 20*3 per cent., were condemned. The great disparity here 

 mentioned is partly attributed to the differences in the methods 

 of procedure adopted by the analysts. But, however it may 

 be, the Local Government Board Report states that in many 

 towns there is room for great improvement in the quality of 

 the milk supply. 



